Jane Campion

Filmmaker

Born: 30 April 1954

Birthplace: Waikanae, New Zealand

Best known as: The writer and director of The Piano

Jane Campion is the writer and director of the 1993 film The Piano. Campion grew up in New Zealand and studied film and television in Australia. She attracted international attention in the early 1980s with the short films Peel (1982), Passionless Moments (1983) and A Girl's Own Story (1984), and in 1989 she released her first feature film, Sweetie. The Piano, starring Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel, was a critical success that brought Campion an Oscar nomination for directing and an Oscar win for writing. Her other films include The Portrait of a Lady (1996, with Nicole Kidman), Holy Smoke (1999, with Kate Winslet) and In the Cut (2003, with Mark Ruffalo) .